Shot In The Dark
by Jane S. Winchester
Summary: Easy mission and Clint Barton never should be mentioned in the same sentence, people know it will only bring bad luck. But what if we add a strange kid in the mix and a very pissed off Phil Coulson. Well nothing is ever easy for SHIELD agents, and much less when the master of Darkness is the one keeping Hawkeye from succeing on his mission. AU.
1. In The Blink Of An Eye

_I am truly sorry for not updating Modern Myth, but as you can probably already guess, I lost my inspiration on that story so I'll leave it in hiatus for the time being. A friend of mine remind me of my love for certain anime character and pum, all my inspiration move towards him, I haven't stop thinking on different ideas but seeing as I like to do crossovers I decided to start with this one._

_Do not worry, I do got a looooooooooooot of chapters already written for this one, so hopefully my muse will be around until this is finished._

_This story contains some AU and is a pre of the Avengers. It will also mention a few other characters that are vital to this story, none of them OC I can assure you that._

_As always I don't own nor win anything from writing this, is just pure entertainment._

* * *

A long journey always end's with something good or bad, it is up to the person to decide which path she or he should take in order to get his desire end, and if they wanted to learn from this experience or obtain something in exchange. For people like the ones working at SHIELD, ending a journey always meant saving lives, doing the most good, retrieving something that would aid the world in a bright future or a close situation.

There were some cases tough, that didn't apply to this rule.

For agents like Natasha Romanoff and Clinton Barton, ending a journey meant surviving a new danger, going back home with a beating heart and a success in their mission. There were no lessons to learn, no exchange of experience, just plain moving from one spot to another, getting the job done fast and with result that benefit not them but their agents fellows behind them.

Clint should have expected that he could not escape the lessons life had being throwing his way since his parents death, since Phil appear giving him a purpose on life. No. The marksman always thought his purpose was to serve others, destroy lives like someone had destroyed his.

But god, or destiny, or whoever is out there planning all this things obviously had other plans for him…

* * *

_**SHIELD HEADQUARTERS - NEW YORK CITY - 4:32 P.M.**_

"Am I going where?!"

"Europe," Phil replied calmly not lifting his eyes from the paper he was scribbling in "City of Bergen, in Norway, very fine city"

"I don't care if they are friendly or not. We just got back from New Mexico" retaliated the agent pacing, like some sort of caged lion waiting for the cage to open. Truth be told, it had passed two days since the incident with that strange hammer in the desert and their close encounter with alien gods, as Clint had kindly put it. Now they wanted them to try another weird encounter in Norway. "Does SHIELD like to have his agents butt kick, after the Thor disaster we have barely any good agent left that is cleared from medical"

"This is a one man mission Barton, we don't need good agents, we need you out there"

"What makes you think I can control whatever the hell you want me to find!"

Phil looked at his enraged agent at the eyes, clear pale blue eyes that held a slight amount of tiredness that hasn't being there before, but it wasn't that bad, Clint had being in worst situation with less energy, he can pull this mission up and it wasn't as if he was going to kill someone or get into a fight, just do a recon of a very suspicious company that had just opened in European continent and was apparently working on something that involved children.

Clint had already read part of the report and discarded the mission fairly quickly, no kid had gone missing around the continent since the foundation of the company and there was no visual proof of any children in the facility. For all intent and purposes, the place looked like your average medical company. But some agents that had being sent undercover to assess the company intentions had mentioned hearing voices of kids around and some secret meetings had taken places three months after the company had started.

Obviously, Fury had suggested they needed a man who can sneak into the place and stay invisible among the other employees long enough to uncover the truth and who was better and seeing things than SHIELD's little Hawk.

"It's a two month recon mission Clint; we aren't expecting you to fight against anything, just to enter the facility and find what they are hiding there, The council wants to make sure this Searing Laboratory is not tied to anything involving children, or other villains cliché plan"

Clint huffed.

Phil glared.

The archer's shoulder dropped in defeat.

"You think they're really trafficking with children?"

"That is what you are going to find out"

"Okay, fine, what is the ETD on this?"

Phil glanced at his watch calculating the time it actually took for him to put the transport ready and let the agent gather whatever material he is to need on the mission.

"Two hours," he answered staring at his more calm agent "since you stomped out of debrief, I need to fill you in on some important things, but we can pass over that on the way to Bergen, meet me at the hangar in hour and a half"

Clint offered a two fingered salute before turning back around, Phil dropping back to his files as he called for a Quinjet for him and Barton. Hopefully things will turn out better once the archer is on the field.

Like hit suddenly by a wave, Phil pushed himself off his chair and walked towards the big window of his office that oversee the outer training ground. One lonely figure was running around the circuit under the ever watchful eye of one Natasha Romanoff. Phil smiled fondly at the rookie agent as Natasha screamed something at him, forcing him to pick up his pace. Normally he wouldn't worry about leaving the rookies in the command of Romanoff as he departed on a mission with Barton, but this particular recruit wasn't your average agent.

_"I can handle him just fine Coulson"_

Phil flinched when the voice of Natasha floated from his phone. How she had managed to do that, he will never now. But he waved at her the moment their eyes locked. She seem to have pick up on his concern and knew that Coulson would not leave until he was sure his assets were safe and in good hands. The red haired assassin was right at one thing; she could handle everything on his absence. He turned around after another look at the training agents and moved towards his desk. He had a mission to prep for and an angry Hawk to deal with.


	2. I Can See Through Your Eyes

_On with chapter two, I know is to fast but like I said before, I have a lot of chapters already for uploading and I don't want to waste my muse ideas over this story._

_For those who had review, favorite and follow this, thank you so very much, it is my pleasure to have you enjoying this story and I will try to not let any of you down._

_As always the disclaimer is the same, you recognize it, it's not mine._

* * *

**_SEARING ENTERPRISES CITADEL – BERGEN CITY, NORWAY – OCTOBER 17, 5:27 AM_**

Run. That was all he could do, all he could think on doing. Footsteps pounded after him: heavy, lumbering, but clearly with physical strength that he didn't posses. The hard asphalt masked the total number of his pursuers; but he couldn't afford the time to turn around and check. And so he kept running, willing his tired legs to move faster; moving through hallways, skirting around corners and changing directions so fast only a professional could keep track of him, only they could keep track of him.

He had to get to the forest; there was no other way. The road towards the Loonelva River was perhaps a little easier to both flee upon and utilize, but it was too open, too many light in the way. Too exposed. He knew they wouldn't dare shot him, kill him or generally destroy all their work done upon his wavering body. But the river was still in the open, he needed a place to hide.

And so he ran.

The footsteps followed him, relentlessly pursuing their prey, screaming at him to stop or else.

He was lucky there was no moon that night, and the weaker lights of the stars were veiled in a thick cloud cover, winter was approaching fast. The darkness made it easier to flee. Easier to hide and the forest would be the perfect place. The forest is just in front.

For a moment, he can taste freedom and safety, the pain is gone squashed by his desire to escape, it looked as though the chase would end and maybe this time it wouldn't be as it always ended. Very rarely over the past few months had he managed to escape them, to slip out of their grasp, but he is always found. They always find him and he is to be punished for his disobedience.

He would rather it didn't come to that again. The cost of fighting was too great, left him too vulnerable, he wasn't in any condition to fight as before, and he doesn't have his friends to go look for him again. But this time is not like the last one, he can feel everything is going around, he is in control of everything and yet he has being stripped of any power he may have possessed. His family hasn't responded to his cries of help, his bond with them is gone. **HE** doesn't hear him either.

His legs are failing and the noises of the his captors is still close, yet he knows he is close to lose them, the trees are separating him from them, only his shadow darting in and out of their vision gives them the hope to keep going. He takes a sharp turn towards the left, letting them of guard and a small cry of victory bubble on his throat as he embrace to the hope that maybe this time he did lose them.

But then he ran straight into something solid and fate changed its course again.

He stumble to the ground, hitting his back against a tree and letting out a muffle yelp of pain as the searing wounds on his back claimed attention. Tears suddenly stung his eyes as he realized it was over again, he was doom and this time he didn't know how much he can't take.

"Damn, watch where your going!" the man he had crashed upon said. It was a voice he had heard before, faintly.

Snapping his head up to look at the owner of the voice, he barely got time to crawl backwards as another figure materialized behind the first one.

As if noticing the panicked look, the man turned around, and arm moving to elbow his attacker just below the rib cage, but he didn't stop there. Not giving his enemy time to recover, swept his leg planting the intruder onto the ground with a pained cry and pulling a gun out of thin air.

"Who are you?" his savior asked the one at the ground.

"You should remember me we work together..._Willie_"

The man glared at the guard on the ground, the soft click of the safety button making both guard and boy flinch.

"Huh? You look different" the gunwilder remarked leaning dangerously over his prey "What were you doing to this boy?"

"He is the boss son, we were worried when he ran into the woods, I'm just trying to take him back to his father"

The boy scramble to his feet, shaking his head so hard that it made him dizzy as he yelled "He is lying, they want to hurt me!"

"Shit"

There were soft pounding of more people around and the stranger obviously realizing it looked at the kid. It was clear he didn't want to risk a full on battle in there, with no weapons and a civilian in the middle, so he do the only thing he though logical.

Kick the attacker in the head to render him unconscious.

"Come on, I know a good hiding place"

The boy didn't hesitate to take the offered hand and follow his hero deep into the forest.

* * *

**_SHIELD OUTSKIRT SAFEHOUSE – BERGEN CITY, NORWAY – SEPTEMBER 20, 9:15 PM_**

The journey had being uneventful, even for an agent that was accustom to such long trips like himself had founded his routine fairly quickly and relaxed almost instantly. Phil had agree on doing the full debrief once they had arrived at the safe house since Clint had complained, something about not being able to focus on the debrief while in mid air and piloting the Quinjet.

They had arrived just a little bit past eight into the International Airport; SHIELD didn't have any base close to the city so they had to pull some strings to be allowed to land there and to have a car waiting for them at the tarmac.

The seven hours of flight were slowly catching up to Clint, and with the fact that they had departed at night from New York, it didn't add well to the mix.

He kicked the door of their safe house open dropping his bag beside the door, and in a zombie like state, moving towards the closest cot. Phil was trailing behind him with the rest of their gear and watched with an amusement fond smile as his agent all but collapsed on the bed, a slight chill making him shiver.

"You should take a shower before sleeping, it might help you deal with the jetlag" the handler suggested.

Clint struggle to stand back up, but manage to nod as he unzipped his bag, pulling out a change of clothes to sleep in he moved towards the bathroom. The door closing behind him with an almost unperceptive click.

Phil rummage through his own bag and piled the mission papers on the table, trying to distract himself with the information in front of him. He had already read it a few times and almost memorized all that it had to be taken in account for this to succeed. He marked the things he thought will drag Clint's attention and the ones the archer had yet to know but definitely needed to keep in mind.

Ten minutes later, a still dripping wet Barton, walked back into the room. He was dressed in black sweat pants and the custom grey SHIELD tee shirt. There was a towel around his neck as he still tried to dry his damp short hair. He seem more awake now and alert, the shower probably helping him ease whatever it was bothering him.

"Do you like to go over the debriefing now or should we wait until tomorrow?"

"Let's do it now, better get on with it fast than waste a day" Phil nodded pushing the chair across from him as an invitation for the archer to sit. Which he immediately did picking up the closest file from the stack "So, SHIELD suspect this company is working in a smuggling child ring but doesn't have any proof of it, right?"

"Not only that the last two agents we sent to infiltrate reported sightings a couple of teenagers around the area, and overhead the chief doctors talking about some sort of weird experiment they plan on conducting"

"Weird" Clint muttered not captivated by the information. Several years working for SHIELD could take the fun even in the most dangerous and perfect mission.

"Yeah, well, to make things more interesting, a month later of that report the agents proclaimed they had misheard everything and that nothing wrong was happening in the facility, also discarded the fact that kids were actually held in there just out of the blue"

The tone of voice Phil used –calm yet a little bit condescending- had Clint leaning back on his chair crossing his arms, a pensive look on his face that indicated, Coulson had succeed on dragging his attention in the matter.

"So that is even weirder," the agent replied flipping over one of the files already discarding the information in that one and concentrating on the ones Phil had being reading on "Why would they file a report and then dismissed just like that?, it doesn't make sense, and is not as if the people at Searing could convince them with money or other stuff to join their side, SHIELD doesn't train slackers"

"That is why Fury wanted a different set of eyes on this mission" Phil supplied "Another fresher opinion, someone who will not be easily influenced by anyone and will keep a straight head and eyes open all the time"

"Okay then so, how are we gonna get me in? is not like I just can waltz into the place, it probably must have very high security and I'm not going to pull a Natasha and just bat my eyelashes expecting for them to let me in"

Phil put a different set of papers on the table just within reach of his agent as he spoke "You're gonna pose as someone looking for a guard job, our agents had being pulled out of Searing Laboratory giving you the chance to replace them, SHIELD is providing you with a fake identity that would grant you access to the facility according to the standards this company wants from their guards"

Clint was nodding along as his handler recited the information, reading over his new identity "So… William Teint?"

"Former sniper of the US Army finished his service last year, jumping from job to job since then. No live relatives as far as the government is concerned"

"Marital status?"

"You don't need Romanoff for this, so none, you are on your own _William_"

Clint offered a cocky smile taking the documents of his new identity and packing them on the only bag he is to take on the mission "Oh, you have to give me something more Philly"

Phil continued to read on, ignoring the comment that got Clint slouching back in his chair as he muttered something close _to 'never getting the good stuff'._

"It is important that you gain the trust of the higher ups in order to get full access to the facility and its projects, Clint, you really need to focus, if our Intel is right, then children lives depend on you"

"I understand Coulson, don't you worry about a thing" Clint stood up, patting his handler shoulder on his way to his cot "I'll go in tomorrow, see if I can convince them to hire me and then everything will flow smoothly, you'll see, nobody messes with kids on my watch"

Phil didn't bother to answer to the confident in his agent voice. Even so he has a very weird feeling coming from this mission, it wasn't a bad feel but it didn't help to ease his nerves and keep his head clear. He wanted to tell himself it was just the long hours of journey messing with him and Clint constant habit to try to annoy him until he snapped. But something inside him told him. No, scream at him to stay high alert this time and not let Clint cockiness overpower the agent skills and efficiency.

With a sigh of resignation he also moved to get a shower and some sleep, hopefully by tomorrow the feeling may have subside a little or be totally gone.


	3. Important SOPA is Back

Hey guys, Sorry this isn't an update but this urgent and I feel that everyone needs to know what's going on.

SOPA is slowly coming back and is in ranks of possibly being passed. I got word from a fellow fanfic writer _Elizabeth Barton_ and she heard from many others. This bill is a threat to us who use the internet.

Our freedom to write fanfiction or post videos on YouTube with things like Video Game run-throughs, posting videos of song lyrics or singing a song from your favorite artist, will be taken away and taken as "copyrighted."

Us Fanfiction writers out there would be forced to stop writing fanfiction if this bill is passed for many reasons. The use of characters from anything whether anime (Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail, Etc,) or books (Harry Potter, Twilight, etc) or of anything that isn't our own.

If this bill is passes than anyone violating the terms of the SOPA bill, like us fanfiction writers for example, will be charted off to a maximum state prison for writing with these characters.

Writers who write a book with even glasses that are fairly similar to character from another will be arrested and confined for using a character with Emerald Green in the iris' of your character just as another author before you.

This is a serious manner matter for all of us. This effects all of us whether we know it or not. I am sure that some of you may not believe me or what I have to say and I can understand that. I would rather not believe it myself but the links below will provide information of the SOPA bill possible passing. If you remove the spaces then it should bring you to said website.

: / www . huffingtonpost 2013/08/07/unauthorized-streaming-felony_n_3720479 . html

: / www . washingtonpost blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/05/sopa-died-in-2012-b ut-obama-administration-wants-to-revive-part-of-it /

: / www . techdirt articles/20130805/12472124074/administration-cant- let-go-wants-to-bring-back-felony-streaming-provis ions-sopa . shtml

: / www . youtube watch?v=1fTt4K4Cae4

We aren't powerless in this people. We can fight for our freedom. We can stop SOPA before it stops us. This doesn't just affect Americans, no, this is a global problem that all of us, all around the world can fix. If we spread the word and stick together than we can once again stop the bill from being passed.

For our freedom of speech, for our freedom to write down and inspire, to read what our fellow readers have to offer; that is what we have at stake for if this bill is to be passed.

Freedom to sing a song that we love from our favorite artists and post it on the internet for the world to see, to help others get through a tough level in a game with a walk-through, to help others learn the lyrics to a song by making a video with the words, anything of this nature that is considered "copyright" will be taken, our privileges gone.

We aren't making money from this; we are just expressing ourselves for our love of anime, books, video-games, etc. Whether we read for entertainment, whether we write from creative charisma, whether we support the fandom, all of these things and more are that we do, is at stake.

* * *

-Please, help spread the word of the SOPA bill and help us continue to be free on the internet. We stopped it before and we can stop it again. Let's do everything we can, to put an end to SOPA and hopefully this time, once and for all.

Rewrite this and post on your story chapters for everyone else to see so we can stop SOPA!

shadowwriter329

InuYoiushi

Madam Jokudaime Kanaya Maryam

g1rldraco7"

winged sapphire wolf

Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san

Blackwolfqueen

theabridgedkuriboh

Elizabeth Barton

Jane S. Winchester


	4. As I'm Lying Awake

_Back again with the third chapter, things are starting to get moving from this chapter on, small warning, this is going to get ugly as the story moves on but don't you worry I'm sure I'll come up with a happy ending. (I hope so)._

_Thanks to all the people who review, fav, follow and generally read this fic, I__'m grateful for your attention and dedication, but mostly at your patient with me._

_So I tried I new method with the languages, will put in cursive if the characters are speaking in another language and in normal text if they are speaking English, hopefully this will make to read a little bit easier._

_Disclaimer is the same as always I don't own anything that you recognize and neither win anything from writing this, just the self satisfaction of sharing my crazy inspiration with you fellows!._

* * *

_**SEARING ENTERPRISES MAIN OFFICE – BERGEN CITY, NORWAY – SEPTEMBER 21, 2:01 PM**_

A shiver runs down his spine putting him on the edge once again, the place resembles so much like a ghost town, it is hard to see people around, even when he is guided by one of the guards down a narrow white hallway lined with laboratories in each side, empty of life except for the occasional doctor milling about the area.

The guard had told him that due to the recent installation of this facility in Norway, they hadn't manage to contract that much people, some of the personnel of the other branches around the world volunteer to come but apparently for them it wasn't enough and he had offered his thanks to him for trying to apply for the job. After that they both had remained in silence until they reached the main office area.

"_Good afternoon Lisa_" the guard leaned over the front desk speaking to the secretary in impeccable Norwegian, letting his companion standing a little bit awkwardly behind him, the woman –Lisa- offered a smile to her co worker.

"_How can I help you with Rudy_?"

"_I got an applicant for that special guard job Mister Hargrove wanted_" he signaled to the man behind him which offered a small smile in return. She smiled back nodding at the chief of security, the man turned to his possibly new worker patting him on the shoulder "_Miss Baylor will sort you out from him, good luck Teint_"

"_Thank you_"

Rudy inclined his head as farewell and abandon the place to fulfill his duties probably behind a desk with two other guards to play poker with him out of boredom. Clint smiled to himself as he stood his ground playing the part of an ex army man, waiting for the secretary to make the first move.

"_So Mister Teint is it, do you bring any papers with you?"_

"_Yes ma'am_" he pulled the folder containing all the information on his fake life onto the desk, Lisa rummaged through the papers slowly, almost like she was looking for something out of place. Unfortunately for her, SHIELD didn't make mistakes. She was about to say something to him when the double doors behind her opened and a flash of white and blue ran out towards the hall.

"_Jesse come back here!"_ A man in his latte forties stood on the doorway watching the other figure disappear into the dark, his Norwegian was tinged with a little American accent as he turned to his secretary "_Lisa call security, tell them Jesse is at it again_"

"_Right_ _away sir_" the woman moved towards the phone dialing a number from memory, for Clint it makes it seem like this was an everyday occurrence. He chose not to comment on it as he keeps looking at the point where the other man had disappeared. He suddenly felt someone behind him and turn to face it.

"_You must be one for the job interview? Mister William Teint?_"

Clint offered his hand with a smile on his face "_That's me; you're Mister Hargrove, pleasure to meet you_"

"_Please call me John, we are like a big family in here you see_," he opened his arms to emphasis his words, and then motioned for Clint to follow him inside the office for more privacy. Clint could see the weird stare Lisa was giving him as the door got closed "_Have a seat Mister Teint and we may begin_"

"_Oh, you can call me William if you like; we're in first name basis after all"_

"_Okay William, my chief of security have spoken wonders of you and it seems you have an impeccable curriculum, your just the sort of man we're looking_" John said letting his awe drift into his voice, Clint could tell the man has trying hard to keep his cool, and he was sure it must have had to do something with the guy who ran away.

"_What sort of job do you expect me to do?"_

"_You see, since we opened this place we have problems of intruders and the sort, our job here in Searing Enterprises is very important for the medical field and we cannot deal with this sort of thing, a friend of mine suggested me to hire more guards and here we are, the safety of the doctors and employers on the laboratories are of the most importance to the company and we need someone who can be there with them, someone trust worthy we can rely on keeping them safe and not stealing our precious ideas_"

Clint nodded his understanding.

"_Have you worked in this type of area before?"_ the Director of the company questioned.

"_Well, no actually, I sort of just decided to try now, but I believe is not that different from keeping my partners safe out there in the battle field, right?"_

John chuckle at the response seem satisfied by it "_Not quite the same but fairly close_"

Clint also smiled letting the man direct the chat towards what he expected from him and what sort of job he was going to do, salary and the precautions to take in certain areas, he even offered to give the archer a tour which he promptly accepted. The two head out chatting a little bit more about the job and other random things.

John showed him the main building littered with the offices and technicians, staff that deal with other personnel and visitors; it remained Clint of the technicians back at SHIELD. They walked into the cafeteria, the small buildings in which the employees have their quarters, and some other areas that didn't held much interest to the agent as it didn't hide anything suspicious.

Their last stop was to the laboratories, in which Clint would be working for the rest of his stay in the company, it was a much larger building almost at the edge of a forest and the end of the mini city that was Searing Enterprises, it seem like all the activity was develop here since there was a lot of people coming and going from rooms to rooms with no end. Large windows panel showed many of the things that were going on, chemistries, doctors, engineers, working on things that were yet to be understood by the archer.

Through one of the panels, Clint saw a boy no older than fourteen or fifteen, wearing a white long sleeved shirt and dark blue pants, sitting at an examine table with two doctors moving around him, he was hocked up to an IV and a heart monitor. The agent watched as one of the doctors asked him a question and earned a glare before what seem to be a heated response was produced; the doctor didn't appear affected by the boy attitude and move on with his business. Green eyes locked into his own pale blue before a hand on his shoulder startle him away from the panel.

"_William, we should keep moving, there is still one more thing to show you_"

He nodded absently turning his head slightly back towards the panel, but the boy had already looked away, seem content with the sleeve of his shirt. Clint couldn't help but think how lost those eyes had seem, like pleading for him to help. He follows after John Hargrove knowing he still got plenty of time to resolve the mystery behind the boy before he have to make an official move.

"_And here is where you'll be working_" the Director say enthusiastically letting the marksman into an office at the far end of the hall, half a dozen cameras feed were in the opposite wall and some other surveillance equipment Clint didn't see since he was still too busy thinking about that boy. He half listened to his new boss as he moved about the area, looking for exits, hiding spots and vent systems before turning to John as the man say "_Do you like it?"_

"_It is way better than my last job, and the pay is higher_" he commented half joking earning a laugh from the other man "_I think you just hired your new chief of laboratory surveillance_"

"_Excellent, I'm glad you accepted the job, you're the man I was looking for_" John offered his hand again to shake "_Welcome aboard William_"

"_Thank you so much for this, I won't let you down sir_"

John dismissed the formality with his hand "_Then I should get onto the contract to set this on, you may begin next week_"

"_If you don't mind, the faster I start the better, I can be present to work tomorrow_" Clint offered knowing the man wouldn't decline the offer which he didn't as he once again expressed his content, asking him questions about himself and telling him about the uniform he was to use, how they will get it ready for tomorrow, the codes and other things he was going to need.

They were moving back towards the man's office, passing back again in front of the panel with the boy, Clint casted another look to see it empty and he frowned. It didn't take them more than ten minutes to go to his new office and back, so where was everybody.

"_Is there a problem?"_

Clint pointed at the room "_There was a boy in here not ten minutes ago_"

"_Oh, yes, that was probably young Jesse, you met him at my office, he is a patient of ours_"

"_Patient?_" Clint repeated confused falling back into step with John, real curiosity showing on his face as the other man nodded.

"_Have you forgotten already, we're a medical research facility, in order to create vaccines, pills and equipment we need to see what we are dealing with, doctors cannot work only on theories_"

"_So you use people as lab rats_?"

John shook his head slightly alarmed "_Of course is not like that, this people is here to volunteer or is send by someone else because we can help them, Jesse is an example of that, tough so far we haven't figure out how to help him, he is a tough case_"

"_What's his problem_?" Clint asked pushing open the door to the outside, John placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from walking further. There were barely any people on the outside since most employees were having lunch or working in something really important. The archer eyes followed John's every move.

"J_esse is one of our youngest patients here, he is the only kid we have here, he lost his parents when he was much younger and barely remember them at all, he had quite a rough childhood and on top of everything he develop an illness so far yet to be heard, the trauma for the accident that took his parents away caused his body to lose energy ten times faster than your average human, one minute he is bouncing with energy and the next… well, we don't know what is causing the energy changes, his body is almost like crystal, very fragile and yet he is still able to move and perform normal activities for very short periods of time without any problem, like as he was a born built athlete_"

"_So he is losing energy way too fast, doesn't a diet help? Eating proteins and vitamins and stuffs like that?"_

"_I'm afraid you don't understand, his body doesn't know how to take the required calories from food or drinks to fuel himself, many doctors diagnosed him with lack of energy due to the various symptoms he is presenting…"_

"_But those symptoms aren't only for lack of energy I presume"_

John shook his head lamely looking back at the building that probably held the topic of their conversation in one of their rooms.

"_No, some of the symptoms are very odd, he is lacking some of them and paying them with different, he had being with us for nearly two and a half years now and we aren't close to figure out what is wrong, we have many patients like him with strangest diseases but so far he is the only one that cause us trouble"_

"_Should I keep an eye on him for my own good?"_ Clint joked, earning a laugh of the man as they began their journey again, the tense atmosphere gone.

"_He is harmless unless provoked, and he doesn't like doctors that is why he is such a troublemaker, and perhaps the influence of that brunette that comes to visit him from time to time, that boy is the only one able to make Jesse happy it is unfortunate that he may not see him anymore"_ the man seem to space out for a minute, Clint wouldn't have pay any attention to it if it wasn't for the fact that the air had change again and to one of darkness that send another shiver down his back _"You shouldn't be troubling himself with this, the boy is in good hands and specially since you're gonna start working here, I suggest you go home and rest, tomorrow you have a big day"_

"_I suppose you're right"_ Clint offered his hand to shake smiling lightly at the other man _"Thank you so much for the job… see you tomorrow"_

John wave him good bye just as the agent made his way towards the rent car Phil had get him, he was reviewing all the conversations he had manage to eavesdrop in and separating the information he knew would interest his handler and help for the mission.

He wanted to be prepare for tomorrow.


End file.
